• Ocean

Mauritius Scrambling to Save Wildlife and Its Tourism Industry After Devastating Oil Spill

• endangered species
• fisheries
• mangroves
• Mauritius
• oil spill
• protected areas
• tourism
• wildlife

On Saturday, the Japanese oil tanker Wakashio that ran aground three weeks ago off the coast of the island of Mauritius broke in half. The Panama-flagged vessel was traveling from China to Brazil with no cargo, but it was carrying more than 4,000 tons of heavy fuel oil and diesel, of which between 800 and 1,200 tons have already spilled. 

Why This Matters:  It is unbelievably challenging to clean up an oil spill of this magnitude — just ask anyone who stood on the beaches in Louisiana mopping up oil after the Deepwater Horizon spill.

• Water

New Study Finds That Many Dams Are Located In Protected Areas, Many More Planned

• #30x30
• #WorldWildlifeFund
• conservation
• dam
• fresh water
• protected areas
• water quality
• World Wildlife Fund

A recent study published in Conservation Letters found that over 500 dams in planning stages or already constructed are located within protected areas. As Yale E360 reported this week, this study is significant in that it is the first to measure how many dams are being built in protected areas, including in national parks, nature reserves, indigenous areas, and more. 

Why This Matters: As the article in Conservation Letters lays out, these protected areas are an “essential tool” in the conservation of freshwater biodiversity.

• Sustainability

Now That We Are Starting To Do It, Can We Get Adaptation Right?

• barrier islands
• beach replenishment
• protected areas
• sea level rise

A new study in the Journal of Ocean & Coastal Management concludes that decisions regarding which adaptation projects to put in place are not being made on the basis of what is most efficient and effective in the long run and that the poorest citizens are bearing the brunt of these mistakes, Bloomberg reports. 

Why This Matters:  Beach replenishment is preferable over hardening coastlines to protect them from the climate impacts we are already experiencing, but sometimes buyouts will be more cost-effective than repeatedly replenishing.   Doing adaptation the right way may be more expensive and may require difficult choices about how to be fair, and not simply undertake projects that disproportionately benefit the wealthy landowners and increase the vulnerability of poor and historically marginalized communities.

• Animals

Room to Roam

• ecosystems
• elephants
• endangered species
• habitat
• protected areas
• wildlife corridors

By Beth Allgood, U.S. Country Director, International Fund for Animal Welfare The plight of endangered wildlife has been brought sharply into focus in recent months by an alarming report from some of the world’s most renowned scientists warning that nature is in rapid decline globally with the rate of extinction accelerating beyond levels previously imagined. […]

• People

Interview of the Week: Dr. Enric Sala, Explorer In Residence, National Geographic Society

• extinction
• National Geographic Society
• National Parks
• parks
• protected areas
• UN Convention on Biodiversity
• wild

Dr. Sala leads the Society’s efforts to save the last wild places on the planet for future generations to enjoy. ODP: You have said that it is now more important than ever for people to live in balance with nature. Why? ES: The loss of ecosystems that we have seen in certain regions is happening […]

• Land

How Protected are Protected Areas? The Data Might Shock You.

• conservation
• protected areas
• Public Lands
• Trump

Rollbacks on Protected Areas Sets a Dangerous Precedent A protected area is a legally defined geographical space that’s actively managed to protect it in the long term from destructive human activities. These areas are crucial to the conservation of vulnerable species as well as the preservation of places of spiritual importance to indigenous people. However, […]